Hardline demonstrators have vowed to march on the summit venue at the David Lawrence Convention Center to vent their anger at the two-day meeting of the so-called Group of 20 leading economies opening Thursday evening.

Some downtown schools and businesses were closed in expectation of a showdown.

The city put in place a massive security operation, with police drafted in from across the country, and National Guard troops in camouflage uniforms manning a ring of concrete road blocks around the meeting site.

There was no immediate sign of tension on the streets as the day began, but protest organizers expressed concern that authorities had equipped themselves for a violent showdown.

"The city has bought a thousand cannisters of tear gas. That's something people are concerned about, like what to do if they're gassed," Noah Williams, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project (PGRP) told AFP.

State trooper Joseph Christy, a spokesman for the city's summit information center, insisted the authorities had no intention of provoking trouble and dismissed the anarchists' claims as the products of an "active imagination."

"We're here to protect everyone, including the civil protesters, those who want to use violence spoil it for everyone," said Tim Huschak, a bicycle-riding police officer brought into Pittsburgh from the nearby town of Clairton.

"We're planning for the worst and hoping for the best. If you go on YouTube you can see what they did in London and Seattle at events like this," he said.

Activists have called for an unauthorized rally, in defiance of a massive security operation, at 2:30 pm (1830 GMT), shortly before President Barack Obama is expected to arrive in Pittsburgh.

The two-mile (three-kilometer) march from a park to the riverside conference center hosting the world leaders could provoke a confrontation, warned Michael Healey, a lawyer representing 14 activists who were arrested Wednesday.

"What I fear at the march is over-reaction by the authorities and over-reaction by some of the younger protesters," he said.

The city has brought in 4,000 extra law enforcement officers -- some federal, some on loan from cities like Chicago and Philadelphia -- and unarmed troops in camouflage uniforms were seen deployed at roadblocks around the city.

"I think the message is that if you'd like to come out and voice your dissent, you can basically expect extreme violence from the city," Williams alleged, promising "creative" resistance but refusing to go into detail.

On Wednesday evening, hundreds of Pittsburghers gathered in a park on a spit of land between two rivers for a concert and rally against climate change.

While many were anxious, most were optimistic the city would not be rocked by the sort of violence that has disrupted such gatherings in the past.

"It's all we've heard about for the past month," said 86-year-old Jan Moravec, an environmental activist at the rally in Point State Park.

"When we get through Friday night and we see all the world leaders heading off in their helicopters, we'll heave a sigh of relief."

Anna Lee-Fields, 35, was confident that this former steel town, which has undergone a stunning transformation to become a cultural hub at the forefront of green technology, would not descend into violence.

"We're not such a huge city that it would get out of control," she said.

Businesses were taking few chances. Many will shut during the two-day meeting, and several shop windows in the downtown business district were boarded over.

Environmental group Greenpeace kicked off the anti-G20 protests Wednesday, unfurling a huge banner above the river in the heart of the city.

Fourteen activists were arrested after they abseiled down one of Pittsburgh's iconic bridges to deploy the banner.

Police closed the area surrounding the conference center to traffic at around midnight, and US secret service officers conducted an overnight sweep of the summit venue, hours before world leaders begin arriving.

Overnight, National Guardsmen in Humvee troop transports deployed to join police manning the barricades.

The last G20 summit in London was marred by rioting, and British police were criticized after footage filmed during the demonstration showed an officer beating a bystander who later died.

The most notorious summit clashes in North America were at a 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, when anarchists in a 40,000-strong crowd fought running battles with police.

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